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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoMike Beaumont | photos For the DispatchBrewmaster Colin Vent of Seventh Son Brewing explains the science of beer, introducing guests to yeast, barley and hops.

Bethia Woolf and her collaborators thought about including a brewery tour when they started
Columbus Food Adventures three years ago.

“At that stage, there were not as many breweries in Columbus, so we put the idea on a back
burner,” said Woolf, whose food tourists sample every manner of food and drink at restaurants, taco
trucks and coffeehouses throughout the city.

But numerous breweries have sprung up in central Ohio since then — so many that one brewery tour
wasn’t enough to do justice to the industry.

So she and Jim Ellison, former Food Fort coordinator for the Economic and Community Development
Institute in Columbus, created a separate company — Columbus Brew Adventures — to give brewery
tours in the region.

The company gave its first tour, focused on Downtown breweries, on Sept. 7.

“Central Ohio has an exciting craft-brewing scene that we want to share with visitors and locals
alike,” said Ellison, co-owner and brew tour coordinator, in a statement. “This is the perfect time
for the creation of a tour company that will allow us to share our passion for this artisan
community.”

Ohio’s craft brewers — mostly microbreweries and brewpubs that produce fewer than 15,000 barrels
a year — are estimated to generate $200 million in annual revenue, according to an analysis of
industry statistics.

There’s no doubt the state’s craft-beer industry is growing. The number of Ohio permits issued
to beer-makers has nearly doubled in the past five years, to 96, said Matt Mullins, a spokesman for
the Ohio Commerce Department.

Meanwhile, the beer industry, including commercial breweries such as the Anheuser-Busch plant in
Columbus, has a large economic impact in Ohio — $7.7 billion a year, according to a 2009 survey by
the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

Seizing the opportunity, Columbus Brew Adventures is starting out with six brewery tours,
including a Meet the Brewers Tour and a Licking County Brewery Tour, as well as a tour of Columbus
liquor distilleries.

Tour tickets, which include transportation, tastings and light appetizers, start at $55. The
company also offers private tours, Woolf said.

“The breweries highlighted a different aspect of beer-making at each stop,” said Mike Beaumont,
creative director at Spacejunk Media, the Columbus video production company. He was one of the 13
participants on the tour.

Columbus Brewing taught the tourists the history of beer, said Beaumont, a longtime friend of
Woolf’s who has documented her Columbus Food Adventure tours with photos and video.

Barley’s demonstrated the artisan qualities of beer — how it tastes and smells, based on the
ingredients, he said. And Seventh Son Brewing explained the science of beer, introducing tour
participants to yeast, barley and hops.

“I think it’s great that people are getting a chance to see four breweries during a tour rather
than just one,” said Collin Castore, an owner of Seventh Son, which began brewing in April. “People
can compare and contrast the beers.”

The tour also helped to provide some exposure for North High Brewing, another young brewery that
enables customers to brew their own beer.

“For us, it was fantastic, because out of the 13 people who rolled in, only two of them had been
there before, so it was a really great way to expose our business to a new set of customers,” said
co-owner Gavin Meyers.

Columbus Brew Adventures is planning several tours that focus on different geographic areas,
levels of brewing interest and pairing beer with food, co-founder Woolf said.

“We want the tours to be fun,” she said. “They’re intended to be educational, so it’s not about
getting drunk.” Tastings during the three-hour tours are limited to three or four

3-ounce pours that are served with food, Woolf said.

“We encourage people, if they find beer they love, to buy a growler and take it home and enjoy
it there.”